Colonial.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VIII, Issue 518, 21 October 1857, Page 3

Colonial.

NEW< SOUTH"WALES.'

Sydney journals received,are to the 18th ult. They contain the narratives at length of the several disastrous Recurrences which had afflicted that colony during the previous month. The loss of the Du'nbar and the Hunter floods which we have already published are the principal of these. We make the following extracts from the political summary for England in the * Empire' of the 10th September^ and from later papers: —

' On the, 27th August, the Government sustained two defeats on bills of importance for effecting certain departmental alterations. A few days previous, Mr. Donaldson, in the course of. his financial statement, had.intimated to the house, that in dealing with the land question, the Government intended to consolidate the imposts on squatters by, levying in the shape of rent, 3d. per head on sheep, and Is. per head on cattle. Several of the, squatters present had manifested their disapprobation unmistakably at the time; and when the bills alluded to above came before.the house, they purposely absented themselves, though usually supporting the. Government hitherto. In consequence of these " adverse divisions," Mr. Parker, on the next meeting of the Assembly, askei an adjournment to enable himself and colleagues to deliberate on the course they ought to pursue. When the house again met, Mr. Parker explained that the Ministers had determined to proceed with the public business, whereupon Mr. Cowper moved that the house adjourn. The motion for adjournment thus made was accepted by the Ministers as a motion of want of confidence; after debate it was lost by one vote.

The "same evening Mr. Parker moved the second reading of the ministerial Electoral Bill. The debate on this measure, which was adjourned over, three days, taking precedence of all other business, terminated on, the 3rd September, witht a majority of three against Ministers.

On the 4th Mr. Parker, and his colleagues resigned; and the same day Mr. Cowper, who was r "sent_for " by his Excellency, succeeded in focming a new, Government, with the following appointments,:—

Colonial Secretary Attorney-General Secretary for • Finance and Trade Mr. E. Jonea Secretary for Lands and Public

Mr. Cowper. Mr. Martin.

Works Mr.T.A.Murray Solicitor-General . Mr. Lutwyche. A majority of the new ministers are pledged to a liberal Electoral Bill, the Premier and the Solicitor-Generalbeing members of the Electoral Reform League, the object of which association is to obtain a reform including manhood suffrage and equal electoral districts. The Finance Minister is also an advocate of manhood

suffrage,

Amongst the bills that have passed a second reading, is a bill introduced by Mr. Dalley, for abolishing the punishment of death for the crime of rape. On the motion of Mr. Deas Thomson, a committee of the Legislative Council has been appointed to consider the question of establishing a Federal Legislation.

A committee of the Assembly is sitting to consider the subject of secondary punishment.

The GpLD Fields.—Our gold fields are progressing steadily, except in localities where the floods have interfered with the operations of the digger. No new discoveries have been made,;but the yield has been maintained. A gentleman from Adelong called upon us yesterday with specimens of the quartz from that place. He describes the quartz reef as being more than two miles long, and richly impregnated with gold throughout. He says that Belman's party had excavated at the time he left upwards of 100 tons of quartz of an average, richness with the specimens he produced, every piece of which was interfused the precious metal. The loose washing stuff obtained alongside of the reef yielded about 16 ounces to the cart-load. The population at our diggings still remains remarkably orderly, though a deep conviction is generally felt that the mining interest has been little cared for by the Government.—Sept. 10. The Wbather,—The .weather has of late been very unsettledrr-a fine day being generally followed by a wet, gloomy one, or by cold westerly winds and clouds of dust. Indeed, all our previous knowledge of the climate has serve only to perplex us in endeavouring to .account for so much rain. A wet day is generally .followed by one or two of sunshine, with a : .clear bright sky and genial airs, but towards ■ evening thie horizon becomes.clouded, and the j rain.descends with scarcely any .warning. Those who haye been accustomed ,at times in the .sultry heat >and cloudless i sky of an Australian to.watch ..eagerly, day.after day, the : tanta.lis|ng .threatening of rain, and have been ajs often doomed to disappointment, must look with, some, degree of puriosity upon the: sudden j an.d.apparently .permanent change /which hasj rwithin thpipast ,six or;seven weeks' taken placef in ,our climate. I

Despatches have, been .received announcing the intention of-the Home Government to separate ;]V[Qretpn;Bay,from,this colony. So far thef ■flaws ;W,ill be gratifying to the inhabitants of othatjdis.trict; .but we.'fear their satisfaction will ,proc^d t noifurther. 'The Clarence, is to;be in-| :9jud£d in this : colony, and. we > presume.that ;the; :28th .parallel will; be ;the. boundary.' The form! of Q;OY,ernment is as. near, as may be to.resemble thatpf-|Jew §,outhrWales. They-are not Indeed; ; to.expeiidl£lQO,QOQ a-year in; its. machinery,* but; i L

they, are,to have an elective Assembly, responsible ministers, and whatever delectable appurtenances, belong to self-government', thus, a population of twenty.thousand persons will find jthemselres suddenly invested with all but imperial authority. The sovereigns of all they isiirvey, they will be able to shake a loose leg of i-Tort Jackson—of its clubs, its leagues, and associations. This change will require some .legislation both in this colony and perhaps at home. We hope it will be of a friendly character. Ihere will be perhaps some difficulty m adjusting the relative portion of debt which the new Government will be bound to discharge, ihis colony will doubtless deal with.these questions in a liberal spirit, and we hope it will be tound that the spirit of co-operation will be strengthened when grievances real or imaginary are removed.— S. M. Herald, Sept. 8. The Weather and the Chops in the Huntee Disteict.—The weather still remains very unsettled, and showers are of frequent occurrence. The spring is later in setting in than .usual, and as a consequence vegetation is very backward. The young wheat, of which there is no great extent sown, does not progress so rapidly as could be desired, except in some few favoured localities. There will be a great falling off this year in the quantity of wheat usually grown in the district. The lucerne in most places has not yet recovered from the effects of the floods, and an immense area of this product will be altogether destroyed, and will have to be replanted. To make up, however, in a measure, for these drawbacks from our agricultural prosperity, a fertilising deposit of some inches in depth has been left on all the low lands, and this will benefit them for years to come. The deposit left by the last flood has far exceeded in depth that left by both the previous ones combined.— Northern Times, Sept. 16. l

The Peel Diggings.—Our correspondent on the 9th instant, writes:—"The following news has only just reached me, but I can vouch for its authenticity. By next post, however, I will forward you the particulars of another splendid discovery on the Peel. No less than 320 ounces have been taken out of two dishfuls of stuff. Three men in two days took out over 400 ounces.— Northern Times, Sept. 16. Disastrous Fiee in Pitt-stbeet.—A fire, which proved very disastrous in its consequences, broke out last evening, on the premises known as the "Bowling Alley," near the Victoria Theatre, in Pitt-street. The alarm was first given about midnight, when flames were observed by a young woman issuing from the premises in question. A few of the city police were promptly in attendance, but we regret to say that before any substantial aid reached the spot, the conflagration had extended to the shop of Messrs. "Weight, and Co., drapers, on one side, and to that of Mr. Joseph Smith, hatter, on the other. In a few minutes the whole of these buildings were in a mass of flame, and but for the ready assistance afforded by the crowd, (many of whom displayed great intrepidity in the salvage of property,) there can be little doubt but that the adjoining, shops of Messrs. Morgan, and others, would have fallen a prey to the devouring element. The precise amount of damage cannot yet be ascertained, but it cannot fall short of £3,000 or £4,000, including as it does a large quantity of costly drapery and soft goods. The origin of the fire is not known, but it is supposed to have been caused by the ignition of some articles from contact with the gas lights in the front portion of the bowling saloon.— Empire, Sept. 16.